


cockatiel cottage

by odetojoy



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, they're in russia and they get a bird
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-14 00:19:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9148474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/odetojoy/pseuds/odetojoy
Summary: “That’s a bird.”“I know.”“A bird.”“Yes…?”Viktor looks wide-eyed and confused, quite possibly even afraid. It would be cute, Yuuri thinks, if he wasn’t the one who put such a bewildered expression on Viktor’s face.-Yuuri buys a pet bird.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i'm getting out of my writing hibernation?? i haven't written anything except school-related stuff in so long, so pardon me if i'm a bit rusty.  
> i really wanted to write a fic in which yuuri and viktor get a pet bird, esp since this anime has basically been the only good thing that happened this year 
> 
> also a disclaimer: you shouldn't buy birds from regular pet stores for various reasons, but i had them buy a cockatiel from a store bc of the story purposes

It was a spontaneous decision.

A thought like that never even crossed his mind, yet here he is, with a small crested bird in his living room.

He had been planning to surprise Makkachin with some treats and a new catching ball, so he takes a trip that day to a nearby pet shop while Viktor is off practicing.

He walks aimlessly around the store for a while, treats and a ball in the basket, examining small cages of hamsters and bunnies. The endless shelves are full of products mostly labeled in cyrillic writing, which he still has some trouble with. He is getting better, though; hours and hours of practice with Viktor in their apartment, as well as with his new rink mates, who are loud and obnoxious, but Yuuri still feels comfortable and positively  _ welcome _ to the eccentric group.

There are a few fish tanks filled with various colored fish swimming around. He turns around to the birds section. Most cages look empty, he thinks, birds probably having been sold recently. Two green birds with peachy heads stand together, preening one another. How cute. He walks closer to the cage, inspecting a small sign at the bottom of it. _Agapornis roseicallis_ _\- peach-faced lovebird_ , it says. What a fitting name. 

The other cages seem deserted; Yuuri looks at the far left, and instantly feels a dull  _ pang  _ in his chest.There calmly sits a small bird in the corner of its cage, light grey feathers but its head yellow, with vibrant orange cheeks and a crest. It’s so cute, god. It stuffs its face into its wing, as if smelling own armpit, and preens the feathers there. He knows Yuuko had a bird like this one when they were kids, but it was old and got sick, so it died before Yuuri turned eight. It was so lively as well, speaking various phrases that were repeated around the household.  _ Tadaima! Okairi! Go to your room, Yuuko! _ , he remembers all of this fondly.

He looks at the name card.  _ Nymphicus hollandicus - normal grey cockatiel. _

It’s so calm, but it looks positively sad to Yuuri right there in that small and lonely cage. There are no toys it could play with - just a food and water bowl, otherwise the space is empty, pristinely clean.

He walks closer to the cage. “Hey there little one,” he says softly in his first language. The bird looks at him with its dark round eyes, and yawns. 

Suddenly, he’s got an idea. 

He walks up to the store clerk. “Hello, sorry, how much is that cockatiel over there?” he asks in tentative Russian. 

The man, who was feeding some of the bunnies in their basket, looks up at Yuuri and gets up, wiping his hands on the uniform and leaving two carrots on a shelf next to him. He looks behind Yuuri.

“Oh, that one? She’s 5500 rubles.”

Yuuri thinks about it. It’s a ridiculous idea, he knows, but oh, is he so tempted. He feels like she is  _ calling _ to him, even though he understands, objectively, she isn’t doing that much.

He turns to the man. “Say, if I were to buy her, what else would I need?”

The man cocks his head a bit to the side, as if in thought. “You don’t have any equipment for birds at your residence?”

Yuuri shakes his head.

“Well…”

Forty five minutes later his is out of the store with two treats for Makkachin, a rubber ball, some pellets and millet spray, a pretty large cage with all its components, and, most importantly, a confused little bird. 

Viktor is going to freak out.

 

-

 

“That’s a bird.”

“I know.”

“A bird.”

“Yes…?”

Viktor looks wide-eyed and confused, quite possibly even afraid. It would be cute, Yuuri thinks, if he wasn’t the one who put such a bewildered expression on Viktor’s face. 

Viktor is standing right in front of the cage, in the middle of their Saint Petersburg living room, workout bag still slung on his shoulder, in awe and severe shock moments after coming home. 

The bird, for all the shock and silent commotion, doesn’t seem to care much, as it ( _ she? _ Yuuri thinks he has to get used to it) stands on a perch of the cage, munching on broccoli and a few sunflower seeds Yuuri has put in the bowl. He was told it’s going to take a while for her to get used to the new environment, so she might seem too quiet and depressed, maybe even not eating anything. So far, she’s eaten a little bit, so Yuuri isn’t too worried, even though he has been fussing over her for whole afternoon.

Viktor is still staring at her with a confused face, and finally, after what felt like such a long time, turns to Yuuri.

“Explain.”

Yuuri runs a hand through his hair and gives a sheepish smile, not knowing quite where to start. 

“Where should I begin?” he gives an uncomfortable laugh.

“The beginning. I don’t get anything that’s happening.”

Yuuri clasps his hands. “Okay. So, I was supposed to get treats for Makkachin this morning, so I went to the store. And I was walking around trying to test myself on cyrillic, when I noticed her standing in the cage by herself. She looked so lonely and sad, Viktor. And imagine how many people come there every day and knock on her cage and harass her. She just looked so upset, imagine how awful it is over there. And she didn’t have anyone or any toys or anything. And she looked at me so nicely and friendly and Viktor _I love her_ _already_.”

A beat.

“That’s a lot to take in at once. “

They both laugh and Viktor opens his arms, Yuuri fitting right in there in mere seconds. 

“It’s okay, I’m not mad, she’s cute. I just wish you’d called me before making such a decision.”

Yuuri fits his face between Viktor’s shoulder and neck, inhaling deeply. “I know, I’m sorry, it was really shitty of me.”

“It’s okay.”

They stand like that for a couple of moments, just their breaths filling the silence, when the creature from the cage suddenly makes a noise.

They disentangle from the embrace, going up to the cage slowly, as if scared of the small being inside. Yuuri puts a pinky near her perch on the cage, and she hisses quietly. He retreats his hand. 

“It takes some time until she gets used to us.” Viktor nods.

“She’s so pretty,” he comments, standing a few inches away from her, inspecting her with wide eyes. 

Yuuri nods, and looks at his boyfriend. He has an expression filled with childlike wonder, all his lines going soft, watching with the sort of concentration and focus he has when it comes to both skating and coaching. 

“Which, um,  _ kind _ is it?” he asks.

Yuuri gives him a gentle smile. “A cockatiel. Normal grey.”

Viktor nods and angles his head slightly, still looking at the bird. She looks right back at him, and does the same. It’s like a comic book scene, Yuuri thinks, and laughs softly.

“Oh god, Makkachin is going to think she’s food, she’s chicken meat for him basically.”

The dog had been asleep in their bedroom since Yuuri got home - the spoiled creature was only  used to sleeping on their warm and big bed, even better  if it’s not occupied by either of them. Yuuri had the same thought a minute too late after coming out of the pet shop that day. Good thing he basically googles every question that comes to his mind,  _ ever _ . Thank you, Phichit.

“We’ll train him, hopefully,” he adds helpfully.

Viktor looks at him sternly. “Yuuri, he’s a fifteen year old dog. I’ve done all the training I was supposed to more than a decade ago.”

“Well, we’re going to do more.”

There is a few minutes of silence between them, both watching the new addition to their small family.

“Imagine if she spoke, oh my god,” Viktor comments.

“Well, she’s a female, and they mostly can’t speak at all.”

Viktor nods, but doesn’t take his eyes away from her. “Since when are you a bird expert?”

Yuuri laughs. “I read all about them this afternoon!”

“Hm, I should probably do the same,” Viktor says, turning to Yuuri. “Listen, dear, I love her already. She looks like an angel, her feathers are like sea foam!” And it is true; her feathers look so soft that Yuuri would be afraid to touch her, even if she didn’t try to bite his finger off every time he got near her. Well, it’s going to be trial and error, he knows.

Yuuri slings an arm over Viktor’s shoulder. “She’s really something, isn’t she?”

Viktor hums. “What should we name her?”

Yuuri thinks for a moment. “I don’t know, Why don’t you decide?”

“I want  _ you _ to decide.”

“Well I want  _ you  _ to do it.”

They stop at look each other in the eyes, neither of them budging. Viktor shrugs and waves his hand. “Well, we’ll just have Yurio decide, then.”

Yuuri thinks about it for a second. Yeah, he really likes that idea.

  
  


Yuri, the russian one, is at their apartment two days after The Incident, and he walks into the place like he owns it every time. 

Yuuri always thinks of him as a hormonal younger brother, who doesn’t know too much about the world or life, but at the same time crawls through it better than any of them. He’s always been fascinated by the boy, not only when it comes to figure skating, but behavior in general. He’s in the hallway in animal print tights and a bomber jacket, backpack on his shoulder. Yuuri thinks he looks like a Disney series character. He’d never say it out loud, though. He doesn’t have a deathwish.

“So you two annoying lovebirds got a bird, eh? Hadn’t a dog been enough?” 

Yuuri rolls his eyes.

“Yes. I mean I did, without asking for Viktor’s permission, which I still feel kind of bad about. But hey, he likes her at least,” he rambles as he slips his shoes off at the door.

“Katsudon, please. You could murder dozens of people and Viktor would still be like ‘ _ Oh, it’s just a  _ thing _ he does’, _ ” Yurio grumbles. 

Yuuri blushes. Why? He doesn’t know. The kid is sixteen, but he still hits things spot-on.

“Can I see the fucking bird?” Yurio complains as Yuuri accidentally blocks his way from the hallway. 

“Calm down, son. All in time,” Yuuri teases him.

Yurio lifts a finger up. “I swear to God, Yurio was bad enough, but if you or your boyfriend call me  _ son _ one more time-,” he cuts himself off abruptly, and Yuuri wonders what stopped a chain of threats coming from his mouth. 

_ Oh _ , it’s her, of course. 

She was positioned on a perch inside of her cage, happily pushing the swing in front of her back and forth with her beak. She seemed to adapt pretty quickly, but was still wary of them, understandably enough. They didn’t mind it; they knew it took some time. The vet told them they shouldn’t let her out to fly around the room until she’s been at home at least for ten or fifteen days, because she might hit the walls and windows. He feels sort of bad for her being in that small space all the time, even though he knows it’s for the best.

“I feel like she’s staring into my soul,” Yurio comments.

Yuuri laughs. “Come on, get closer.”

Yurio draws nearer with a hilarious face expression, Yuuri barely suppressing his laughs. He’s slouched closer to the cage, eyes open wide and lips pressed together tightly, cheeks puffing out a bit. They’re inspecting each other, both looking the other in the eyes.

“You shouldn’t stare into her eyes too long, she might think you’re a predator,” Yuuri adds helpfully.

“I  _ am _ a predator.”

Yuuri ruffles his hair. “Sure thing, tiger.”

Yurio slaps his hand away, huffing angrily. “Oi, fuck off Katsudon.”

He stares at the bird some more. “What’s her name?”

“We thought you should decide.”

The teen whips his head to face him, making a surprised face that resembles a gaping fish quite well. 

“Me?”

“Of course.”

Yurio softens a bit at that, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He looks so much different like this, and Yuuri always remembers just how  _ young  _ this boy is. He’s just a child with so much talent and drive.

The boy catches himself making what he probably only knows as  _ pathetic  _ expression, and steels it into something more resembling his usual scowl.

“I was gonna say to just name him after me, but then I remembered it’s the same as yours.” 

At that, Yuuri laughs, and pats the younger one on the back. “It doesn’t have to be today, Yurio. Just call us when you think of something up.”

Yurio nods, gaze running to the cockatiel once more. Her feathers in the afternoon sun look even more like foam, light and see-through like a veil. She stretches her wing and one leg, but since Yurio has never seen something like that, he proceeds to freak out.

“Oh my god, what is she doing?” he yells.

Yuuri shrugs. “Stretching.”

“That’s weird.”

There’s a moment of silence.

“Nika.”

Yuuri shakes his head.

“What?”

Yurio shrugs. “The name.”

Yuuri opens his mouth slightly, thinking about it. He smiles. “That is a really beautiful name.”

The boy smiles to himself, looking down in his lap.

 

Yuuri is at the gym, tired and packing his things to get home as soon as possible, when he hears his phone ring. 

“Her feet are cold!” he hears his partner’s voice.

There’s some mild pounding in his head. “What?”

Viktor screeches at the other end. “Her feet! They are not warm!”

Yuuri shakes his head and presses a bottle of cold water against his forehead, muscles tired from a long day. “Nika’s?”

“Is there any other  _ She _ I would touch feet of?” Well, he has a point. Yuuri still doesn’t get what’s happening.

“So?”

“What do you mean ‘ _ So?’ _ ,” he can practically  _ feel _ Viktor squinting in that judging gaze of his.

“So what if her feet aren’t warm?”

“So, I was googling everything about tiels and I read that if her feet are warm that means she’s healthy. And then I touched her feet and they weren’t! She’s might be  _ sick _ , Yuuri!”

If it was any other day, Yuuri might have acted calmly and reasonably in this moment right now. But, considering the fact that he’s been non-stop working out since morning, and now it’s six o’clock in the evening, he promptly freaks out. 

“Oh my god.”

“What should I do?” Viktor yells at the other end of the line.

“Take her to the vet!”

“They work ‘til seven!”

“It’s six!”

They’re both yelling, and Yuuri probably sounds insane to anyone that comes into the gym’s locker room. He hangs up on Viktor, slips on his shoes quickly and zips up his jacket, tying a scarf around his neck. Russian winter is a whole another level of freezing than what he’s been used to in Hasetsu or Detroit. He grabs his backpack and exits quickly, leaving his locker keys at the reception. 

  
  


“Yeah, she’s fine. She probably just got scared and Viktor freaked out,” Yuuri informs the other Yuri on the phone. He hears Viktor protest from the other room.

“What a wimp,” the teen unnecessarily comments.

Yuuri shrugs. “It’s understandable.”

Yurio scoffs. “He freaked out so bad. He called me and started yelling how he’s killed the most precious gift that’s ever been in his apartment but you.”

That’s kind of cute.

“Stop finding it cute.”

Yuuri chokes on his spit. “I didn’t even say anything?”

“You’re pretty obvious, loser. Even on the phone.”

Yuuri sighs. He needs sleep.

“Anyway. Goodnight, Yurio.”

“Bye, Katsudon,” grumbles the boy.

He lowers his phone on the bedside table and pinches the bridge of his nose. Today’s been a long day. He hasn’t even had the time to get out of his workout clothes and into a soft pair of pajamas and fluffy socks. Honestly, that’s all he needs right now. 

Nika, thankfully, is perfectly fine. He’s been so worried, that on top of the physical fatigue in his bones and muscles, he’s also gotten a migraine. Wonderful. 

It turned out, as the vet said, that since Viktor probably got close to her way too fast and unexpected, she got scared, which is why her feet were a bit cold. On top of it all, she’s only been at their household for two or three weeks at most; she still hasn’t gotten used to it. Nothing too unusual or abnormal. She’s a perfectly healthy and happy bird, he’d said. 

He hears footsteps, and there’s his beautiful, handsome, drama queen fiancé on the door, holding two mugs in his hands. He gives him a soft smile.

“Chamomile tea,” he says as he walks across the room, handing one of the mugs to Yuuri. 

“God, I love you,” Yuuri murmurs tiredly, not even really sure what he’s saying.

“Cinnamon cookies will be baked in a few minutes,” he adds, and jesus, Yuuri wonders just  _ how _ a man like this exists.

“What did I do to deserve you?” he mumbles as Viktor crashes on the bed next to him.

“Hmm. Everything?” he laughs and puts both their mugs on the bedside table. They lay next to each other, diagonally on the bed, feet dangling from the edge. He runs a hand through Yuuri’s hair, massaging his scalp lightly, and Yuuri lets his eyes shut closed.

“I’m so tired,” whispers Yuuri.

“I know,” says Viktor. “I’m sorry for making a mess out of nothing and exhausting you even more.”

Yuuri shakes his head a bit, eyes still shut. “Hey, I would’ve done the same thing.”

 

Ten minutes later, Yuuri enters the room again, now in clean pajama, teeth brushed, and jumps straight in bed under the covers. There are cookies and chamomile tea sitting next to him, and he smiles to himself.

“Viktor! Get in the bed with me!”

**Author's Note:**

> hmu @ tumblr
> 
> thanks to my tiel who i'm so obsessed with that i needed to write a fic
> 
> maybe chap 2 in which nika initiates physical closeness w one of them???who knows


End file.
